


Exile

by KizaKurosaki15



Series: Turk Testing Series [9]
Category: Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Emotional Hurt, Exile, Hurt No Comfort, Past Relationship(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-14
Updated: 2020-09-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:46:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,185
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26462875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KizaKurosaki15/pseuds/KizaKurosaki15
Summary: A self imposed Exile seemed what like the planet wanted from him, well, it got it.
Relationships: Zack Fair/Reno
Series: Turk Testing Series [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1704154
Kudos: 5





	Exile

The news hit him hard. Really hard, like a runaway train, like a blade stabbing through his chest. At first he didnt want to believe it, how could he? Zack was strong, had fallen off the plate and down into Aerith's church and came out from it without a damn scratch. Had fought Angeal and won. Zack seemed almost unbeatable in his eyes. Maybe that's why it hit him so hard when he had gotten the news of his death in Nibelheim along with the death of Sephiroth and rookie infantry man as well. The entire town had been burned to the ground and Zack had apparently died during the whole thing. But he wasnt told how, when the news was given to him, he had also been told due to those events that the T.T. Project would be discontinued. But that news hardly brought him any comfort, not when his mind was still trying to comprehend that Zack was dead. He felt...numb for the rest of that day, but when he got home, that's why it really hit him. He remembered screaming, punching the table all that crap. 

He remembered eventually collapsing into a heap of tears and anger, hands pressed against his eyes, his cats meowing up at him in worry. And all he could do was sit there, crying tears of anger, frustration, and sorrow. He ignored the near constant ringing of his phone, he couldnt stand the idea of talking to anyone right now. It was about several days of him refusing to go into work for Tseng and Rude to finally come find him. He had expected his boss and partner to scold him for acting like a a child. But no, instead he was met with soft words, sincere apologies for the pain and loss he was experiencing. They too felt the loss though, Zack was their friend as well, he was friendly and got along with so many people. As the days, weeks and months passed, while Reno still missed the dark haired man deeply, and on some days it was harder to accept then others. 

When those days, weeks and months turned to five years, many assumed Reno had simply gotten over it. He rarely spoke of Zack, rarely reacted to the mention of the incident at that point. And no, it wasnt due to his lack of caring. It was simply because of what else was he supposed to do? The man he loved was gone and by that point had been gone for so long. Or that had been the theory, the belief until Tseng called him and Rude in, giving them both off the record orders to go out to the wastelands outside of Midgar to fetch Zack and bring him the rest of the way into the city. At that point, Reno couldn't believe his ears, the man was still alive, how he wasnt sure. And he wasnt about to question it either, not when he had a chance to help him, to save him from the Shinra army that was apparently chasing him. 

What had happened? Where had he been all these years? Why was he being chased by Shinra's Army of all things? What information had been kept from him as to avoid any potential snooping and interference? There were so many questions that raced through his head as Rude piloted the helicopter to Zack's location, he couldnt stop bouncing his leg much less fidgeting. While it would have been annoying any other day, Reno could tell that Rude understood his anxiety and had opted to say nothing on the matter. Reno had been expecting to find his lover alive and well, he had been expecting to see him and things would be okay. He wasnt expecting to find a half beaten Shinra Army, a large puddle of blood mixed with rain and mud and no body. No Zack. 

It didnt take a genius to put two and two together. Still, protocol demanded they take a blood sample back with them to the labs. So they did, when the results came back hours later, Reno felt...numb, empty, like he didnt care anymore. He knew Rude was worried, he knew Tseng was worried too, they knew when he was completely silent like now, things were bad. But Reno didnt feel the need for self destruction nor the need for breaking things around him. He just felt....numb, perhaps this is how to felt like to have any sort of last glimmer of hope crushed. 

He remembered sitting by the flower bed in the church, he remembered Aerith going on about something or other. He didnt pay attention, not that he meant to act like he didnt care about what she was saying...but he felt as if the wound he had thought had healed years ago reopened. He felt as if he had been held down, the wound reopened, lemon juice was poured all over it and there was nothing he could do about it. What pulled the redhead from his thoughts was the feeling of gentle, smaller arms around around his shoulders from behind, the feeling of someone pressing their cheek to the back of his head. He didnt need to see who it was, he already knew. The man couldnt hold back the broken sob that escaped him. His head hung low, Aerith hugging him as tightly as she could without accidentally choking him. She missed him too, he knew that. Zack was her friend as well, she cared about him as well. He and Zack at one point had planned to take Aerith with them, to show her a sky with no steel plate above her. Well, not just her, but her mother as well, Reno had grown to see Aerith as a sister and Elmyra a mother. They had become a family. 

But fate was cruel, and had taken Aerith away from him too. Felt alone, even if he had Tseng, Rude, Elena and Rufus. Yes they were family too, there was no denying that. But it wasnt quite the same, it didnt feel the same, he blamed that on the fact that all of them but Elena had been there during the testing project. It was that feeling that drive him to run. He ranaway and took to hiding close to where his sister had spent her days, close to the home he used to be welcomed in. He had promised himself to stop thinking he would ever get to see that paradise he wanted to take Zack too. He had learned that it was stupid to ask for such promises, learned that it was an idiot idea for him to think he could find happiness after all the horrible shit he had one. 

He had no right to joy, he had learned that the hard way. So when he managed to find this run down, abandoned bar, Reno knew this is where he would spend his days in his own self imposed exile. 

Alone, like how it seemed fate wanted him to be.


End file.
